A great riend of mine can no longer fish and has given me his Hardy reels. They are probably between 10-30 years old. They are the:
Featherweight
Lightweight
Princess
St. Aiden

They have all been fished hard as he fished virtually every spare moment of his life, and caught many thousands of fish in his life.

I have noticed that there is some play in the spool to reel. In other words, if i take the handle and move it in & out, there is a tiny bit of play. is this normal in older Hardy reels?

Thanks,

Dennis

If you're talking about the handle itself that is fairly normal in any reel with serious miles on it. Handles are supposed to spin and they do it on a basic bushing. After a point the inside of the plastic on the handle wears, hence some play. If it really bothers you they can replace them in Lancaster for a nominal fee.

The spindles have a final at the end on which the clasp that latches the spools fast catches. It may be that the latch is worn on the reels in question. I would look to this first before expecting the spindles to actually be worn down. If you look on the face of the spool the latch hub is held by two tiny screws. After removing these the hub cap will come off and reveal the clasp and spring. It has been a long time since I had one of these apart but I believe you can spread the little spring apart (gently) to increase the pressure on the spindle. This may solve the problem, be advised that it can be perplexing putting the hub cap back in place to get the spring - clasp back underneath and to line up the screws again. You'll get it with some patience

I just did a refresher course: After you spread the spring (only a wee bit) by studying the way things line up you will see that you can get the screws started with the latch handle protruding from under the hub. You will need a very small screw driver (I have a set of jewelers drivers). Once the screws are back in the threads and started use the edge of the driver to gently push the part of the spring that protrudes back under the hub. When it's under just finish tightening the little screws. If the play is gone we have solved the issue. If this does not do the trick then the end of the spindle has suffered wear and the choices are; live with it, or contact Hardy and ask for a remedy from them.

Thank you so much. I think I will leave this in the hands of someone who is better with a screwdriver than me. There are four of them and he gave me his bamboo rods, too, so I want to fish them together if possible. There's a good fly shop in the area and I'll go there.
Again, thanks.

Burk would be best to provide that answer, the only things I've ever needed were spring and pawl kits and they used to be available. I don't know the status of these kits now. Honestly the procedure I described took just a few minutes but you will need the mini screw driver set to accomplish it with ease.

There are very few things that can aile a Lightweight series reel, and among them are what we are discussing (latch & spring) and the spring tension in relation to the pawls inside the cage. I would urge you to become familiar with how the reels work in relation to the tension knobs and how these affect the spring tensions. Always turn them fully out after use to avoid weakening the springs. If the shop staff is familiar with Hardy reels than you can let them have at it but if they are not........... I wouldn't get into an earn while you learn program with them, the reels are very simple to maintain.